Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich was a bundle of nerves until he heard from football coach Charlie Strong on Wednesday night. That’s when he says Strong told him he was staying put and not accepting the Tennessee job that was offered to him Tuesday.

Strong will get a new contract now that he is staying with the Cardinals. Details of the deal have not been settled.

“I promised his daughters would have lunch money,” Jurich said.

Strong said he wanted to ensure his assistant coaches were well compensated. He told his players that the decision was difficult, but asked that they trust he would make the right call.

“Decisions always go back to people, and they always go back to relationships,” Strong said.

And it was the relationship with Jurich that ultimately helped him land on his feet.

“He gave me a chance to be a head football coach after being an assistant for 27 years,” Strong said. “ … I was always on everyone’s short list, but Tom let me know from the very beginning that I was the only one on his list.”

After returning home from a jog Wednesday, Strong said he spent the rest of the day mulling the decision. Two things came to mind:

“Wake up. How do you walk away from someone who really trusts and believes in you?”

And: “We haven’t finished the job yet. We’re still growing together. We have a lot of work to do.”